STRUGGLES.
(1524-1527.)
Gustavus Vasa, as we have seen, had gone to Malmoe for the purpose of
arranging with Frederick, king of Denmark, such measures as were
required by the grave circumstances in which they were both placed.
Christian II. had been set aside, and these two princes were to divide
his dominions between them. The compact between Denmark and Sweden was
signed at the same time that Olaf and Lawrence appeared before the
chapter of Upsala (October, 1524). Shortly after this formality,
Gustavus returned to his capital.
[Sidenote: Iconoclasts At Stockholm.]
No sooner had the king passed within the gates of Stockholm than he
heard of the disorder and disturbances which filled the town. He gave
orders to be taken straight to the castle; but a very strange sight met
his eyes in the streets through which he had to pass. He saw them
thronged with priests, tradesmen, women and children, who were running
about in all directions, many of them uttering wild cries. On reaching
the square he found there heaps of broken images and fragments of
statues, with monks standing beside the _débris_, weeping and touching
with trembling hands those heads and arms and mutilated bodies, crying
out in piteous tones—‘Behold, our saints, the blessed patrons of the
kingdom, how shamefully they have been treated!’ There were also some of
the townsmen standing by, who looked on the destruction of these idols
as a pious deed. Some giddy ones among them even bragged of their
exploits. One young man beginning to laugh and to mock at the pope,[414]
the populace had fallen on him and treated him in a horrible manner.
Gustavus could hardly suppress his astonishment and indignation. As soon
as he arrived at the castle he sent for Olaf and his colleague
Langerben, and asked them in angry tones what all this meant. They
answered that they had nothing to do with these violent proceedings, but
that they were instigated by certain merchants of the Netherlands who
had lately arrived; that two of them especially, Knipperdolling and
Melchior Rinck, declaring that the Holy Ghost spake by their lips, had
secretly made partisans; and that then, feeling sure of their case, they
had taken possession first of St. John’s Church, and afterwards of other
churches, had preached in them on the Apocalypse, and had cast down the
images and broken the organs to pieces.[415] ‘And how is it,’ said the
king, ‘that you have tolerated such disorders?’ Olaf replied that the
only effect of opposition on their part would have been to excite these
enthusiasts still more; that the best course was to wait till the people
came to their right mind, which they were sure to do ere long. Gustavus
testified his displeasure at the toleration of disturbances calculated
to undo all that he had done. He summoned the two iconoclasts to his
presence, commanded them to depart the kingdom, and declared at the same
time that if they ever entered it again, it would be under pain of
death.
While the fanaticism of the ‘Illuminated’ was turning Stockholm upside
down, the Roman clergy took advantage of it to bring back to their side
those who had appeared friendly to the Reformation.
Gustavus, who possessed in a high degree those gifts of great men which
make a look or a word enough to persuade men, saw that his first duty
was to pacify the people. According to the custom of newly elected
kings, he took what was called _Eric’s road_, and, making a progress
through all the provinces of his kingdom, he appeared everywhere like a
father full of love, even for the least of his subjects. He counselled
the ecclesiastics to preach the Gospel with meekness, and the flocks to
put it in practice. A storm had passed over Sweden, but the presence of
Gustavus was like the beneficent sun which lifts up the drooping grass
and restores vigor to the blasted trees.
[Sidenote: Olaf’s Marriage.]
The ministers, on their part, sought to enlighten men’s minds; and while
Olaf preached the Gospel with power and boldness, his colleague
proclaimed it with prudence and meekness. Discourses and dogmas were not
enough. Olaf aimed at morality, at a Christian life; and thought that it
was his duty to begin with the heads of the churches, who rejected
marriage, and had formed for the most part illicit connections. In his
view it was a necessity to substitute for an impure celibacy the holy
institution divinely established from the beginning of the world. He
knew that such a course would give rise to interminable complaints; but
nothing could hinder him when the question was one of obedience to a
command of God. He determined to do as Luther did. He made sure of the
king’s approval; and on Septuagesima Sunday, in January, 1525, he
married a virtuous lady belonging to a Christian family of Stockholm.
The ceremony, at which the king was present, was conducted, contrary to
the usual practice, in the Swedish language. This marriage afforded the
priests an opportunity of raising a great storm.[416] Because a reformer
had obeyed a command of God, they cried out at his impiety: ‘All rule is
abolished,’ they said, ‘public order is at an end, and the most holy
things are trodden under foot.’
The bishop of Linkoping, as usual, headed the opposition, or rather
constituted it in himself alone, and lamented the timidity of his
colleagues. Brask was an eminent character, the best informed and most
discreet man among the Swedes. To him Sweden was indebted for the
introduction of useful industries. He it was who first conceived the
project of uniting the Baltic with the North Sea by means of a canal, a
plan which has been carried out in our own days. He procured from abroad
not only breviaries, but Italian law-books and poets, some of them even
profane. When one of his friends went to Rome he begged him to bring
back for him the ‘_Orlando Inamorato_’ and other books of the same
kind.[417] He stood forward as the champion of the liberty of the
Church, of the kingdom, and of the nobility; and looking upon the
marriage of priests as a tremendous attack on the Romish system, he
rushed to the breach to defend it. He had welcomed the young king with a
certain air of paternal condescension, and called him ‘dear Gustavus.’
He now wrote to him a violent letter. ‘This antichristian measure,’ he
said, ‘is causing a great scandal in the kingdom. Never since the age of
the Apostles has a priest dared to perpetrate so shocking an offence.
What confusion, what bitter dissensions I foresee in the future! And it
is on you Sire, that the blame will be laid; on you, who by your
presence have sanctioned this marriage which is contrary to the laws of
the Church and the State.’ He concluded by pronouncing a sentence of
excommunication against Olaf. Gustavus too comprehended, although in a
different sense from Brask’s, the importance of the step taken by the
Stockholm pastor, and nobly came forward in his defence. He replied to
the prelate that Olaf was prepared to prove by the Word of God the
lawfulness of his union; and that for his own part he considered it
strange that a man who acted in conformity with the law of God should
for so doing be laid under an interdict, while every one was aware to
what scandalous licentiousness the priests were addicted, and without
being rebuked for it.[418] ‘I should very much like to know,’ added the
king, ‘whether such monstrosities are more in accordance with the divine
law than marriage which is ordained of God for all. There is not a
single passage in the Bible which prohibits the marriage of priests; and
as for papal ordinances, they are everywhere falling into discredit. The
antiquity of a custom can not make it justifiable.’ The only effect of
this reply was to exasperate Brask. He addressed Archbishop Magnus, who
took no notice of his very bitter reproaches. He travelled all over his
diocese, and prohibited priests and laymen from touching, were it only
with the tips of their fingers, the foolish teachings of Luther, lest
the contagion should infect and be the death of them. Brask was at least
successful in stirring up the people against Olaf and Lawrence. In every
direction were heard the exclamations—‘Cursed heretics! disfrocked
monks!’ Olaf published, according to the announcement of Gustavus, a
work in which he maintained the doctrine that _marriage is honorable in
all_.[419]
[Sidenote: Translations Of The Scriptures.]
This servant of God was now especially engaged on another task. While
men were loading him with insults, he was employing the time which his
ministry left at his disposal in translating the Scriptures into
Swedish. The Chancellor Anderson, on his part, had done the same. These
versions were printed, and ere long the bishops loudly murmured because
the books of the New Testament were being read in every house.[420]
‘Well, then,’ said the king, ‘translate it yourselves, as has been done
in other nations.’ The bishops, finding that their authority was every
day diminishing, applied themselves,[421] though sorely against their
will, to the task which the king proposed to them; and they distributed
the books of the New Testament among the various chapters of canons, and
the two monastic orders, the Dominican and the Carthusian. The bishops,
the canons, and the monks were about to suffer still greater annoyance
than the obligation to read the Bible.
The Diet which met at Wadstena, at the beginning of 1526, persuaded the
king to have himself crowned, adding that the crown should be
hereditary. But Gustavus said that before being crowned king he was
bound to provide for the maintenance of the kingdom. On investigating
the resources of the State and of the Church, he found that the annual
expenditure of the former was more than double its income, while the
revenues of the Church were much larger than those of the country. The
bloated priesthood were swallowing up the people. The king demanded that
the Diet should grant to the State two-thirds of the church tithes,
which would enable it to provide for the wants of the nation, and to
reduce the taxation which pressed heavily on the third estate. The
clergy were terrified;[422] bishops and abbots inquired what was to
become of them. Brask, indignant at the want of courage of which his
colleagues had given so many proofs, told them that they were mere
dastards, and got just what they deserved. They had also to endure his
sarcasms; they had lost every thing, money and honor too.
[Sidenote: Ostentation Of Magnus.]
All these distressed clerks turned now to the primate. Magnus, who had
hitherto habitually tried to please Gustavus, changed his course
entirely when he saw that the purses of the priests were threatened! He
resolved to have done with reserve, to burn his ships, and haughtily to
oppose clerical to civil authority. ‘Have no fear,’ he said to the
bishops assembled about him, ‘I will let the king see my power, and I
will compel him to bend before us.’ Without any delay the primate
established his court on a very grand scale, and received such of the
gentry as were dissatisfied with the king. He clothed himself in purple
and gold. He undertook a visitation of his diocese with a following of
two hundred persons, partly gentlemen and partly guards. Whenever he
entered a church rich carpets were spread under his feet, and when he
took his meals he ordered the door to be thrown open to the public as a
prince does. Every one was struck with the pomp, the solemnity, and the
state with which he was surrounded, with the number of the dishes and
the magnificence of his table, for in all these things he surpassed the
king himself.[423]
But neither the opposition offered to the ministers of the Gospel, nor
the pride and ostentation of the prelate, could stop the advance of the
Reformation. Gustavus was convinced that God made man for progress, and
that if there is progress for the body, there is the same likewise for
the heart and the understanding. In his view the Reformation constituted
a great advance in the sphere of religion; and he saw already many
nations of Europe, awakened by the Gospel, marching ahead of others. Why
should Sweden be left behind? In order to advance, courage and
resolution were undoubtedly necessary; but Gustavus was not deficient in
either of these qualities.
[Sidenote: The Primate And The King.]
The feast of St. Erick, celebrated on the 18th of May, was a great day
in Sweden. It was the day on which honors were paid to the memory of
King Erick IX. (1155), who had attempted to introduce Christianity in
Finland, and had founded for his subjects wise institutions. An annual
fair was held at this time at Upsala, to which large numbers of people
were attracted. The king visited the fair in May, 1526, attended by his
Chancellor, Lawrence Anderson, and two thousand horsemen. He desired to
conciliate the affections of the people, which the priests and the monks
were stirring up against him, and to put the haughty archbishop back
into his own place. He left his armed men in their quarters, and rode on
horseback among the crowd, smiling on the people with a gracious air,
which won all hearts. Having reached the top of one of the hills in the
neighborhood of Upsala he halted, and assuming for the moment in
addition to his royal functions those of a reformer, made a speech,
sitting on his steed, to the multitude around him.[424] ‘What is the use
of the service in Latin?’ he said; ‘what is the use of the monastic
life?’ Many expressed their agreement with these sentiments; but some
peasants, who came perhaps from Linkoping, cried out, ‘We mean to keep
the monks. They are not to be driven away; we will sooner feed them
ourselves.’ The king, waiting for an opportunity which was soon to offer
itself, of bringing down the pride of the priests, rode down the hill,
returned to the town, and went to the palace of the archbishop, who had
prepared a splendid banquet for him, and purposed to display before him
all his magnificence. Towards the close of the feast the primate rose,
determined to place himself on a level with the king, and holding his
glass in his hand turned to Gustavus and said, ‘Our Grace drinks to the
health of Your Grace.’ ‘Thy Grace and Our Grace,’ replied Gustavus,
coolly, ‘cannot find room under one roof.’[425]
The king then called together the chapter of the cathedral and said, ‘By
what right does the Church possess temporal power?’ The archbishop,
disconcerted by the answer which the prince had made to him at table,
remained silent. Iveran, provost of the cathedral, spoke in his stead,
and named the _Decretals_ as the foundation of their rights. The king,
not satisfied with this authority, resumed: ‘Is there in Holy Scripture
a single passage which supports your privileges?’ Every one was silent.
At length Doctor Galle, who was reputed the foremost theologian of
Sweden, said, ‘Sire, the kings your predecessors conferred these
privileges on us and maintained them.’ ‘Certainly then,’ replied
Gustavus, ‘if kings conferred them, kings may withdraw them. For this
purpose it is only necessary for them to recognize the fact that it was
for want of knowledge these institutions were founded aforetime to humor
superstitious requirements and to promote personal interests.’
The archbishop and the bishops, seeing so clearly the signs of the storm
which was threatening to overthrow them, resolved, in order to control
it, to take the initiative, and attack their adversaries.[426] They
therefore went in a body to the king, and the archbishop, in the name of
them all, required of Gustavus that he should show himself the protector
of religion. ‘The version of the New Testament made by Olaf,’ said he,
‘is simply Luther’s version. This is already condemned by the pope as
heretical. Let Olaf and his followers, therefore, be brought to trial,
as guilty of heresy.’ Gustavus, believing that he could turn this demand
of the clergy to account in advancing reform another step, replied—‘I
consent to a sentence of capital punishment against Olaf and his
followers, on condition that they are justly convicted of the crime of
heresy of which you accuse them. But I have observed so many beautiful
traits in the life and the habits of this minister, that I question
whether it is not out of hatred that you accuse him of heresy.
Theologians are accustomed,’ he added sternly, ‘to blacken in this way
those who do not think as they do.’[427]
The archbishop was much moved by this reply.[428] The imprudent prelate
exclaimed—‘I take upon myself to convict Olaf of heresy, on the most
important points of the faith, and this in the presence of your Majesty
and all your ministers.’ Magnus, mistaking his strength, had gone too
far. Gustavus hastened to take advantage of it. He commanded a
conference to be held such as was asked for, entertaining no doubt that
it would turn to the triumph of the truth. He invited to it learned men,
the members of the Diet, and all the nobles who desired to have the
means of judging for themselves of the foundations on which the
doctrines rested which were professed either by the adherents of the
pope or by those of the Reformation. Olaf declared himself ready. The
bishops, on the contrary, shuffled, either because they considered it
beneath their dignity to hold a discussion with Olaf, or, as has been
said, ‘because they were afraid of exposing themselves in a conflict
with a learned and eloquent man.’[429] At last they chose, as defender
of their dogmas, a distinguished divine, Peter Galle, the man who had
previously replied to the king at Upsala.[430]
[Sidenote: Olaf And Galle.]
The meeting was held in the chapter-house, and the king and the most
influential men of his suite were present. Secretaries took their seats
at a table for the purpose of taking down the discussion in writing. The
champions of Rome and of the Gospel came forward, and the colloquy
began. The first question contained within itself all the others. It
was, whether _the traditions established by the Fathers and the ancient
doctors of the Church must be abolished_. Galle admitted that the
Christian religion was certainly contained, as Olaf asserted, in the
Holy Scriptures. ‘But,’ he said, ‘these Scriptures are difficult to
understand, and we must therefore receive the explanation given of them
by the ancient Fathers.’ ‘Let us admit the interpretation of the
Fathers,’ replied Olaf, ‘when it does not disagree with the written
Word; but when the teachings of the Fathers are at variance with those
of Scripture, let us reject them.[431] If we do not reject them, we
should make no difference between the word of God and the decrees of
men.’
The discussion turned afterwards upon the great doctrine of the
Reformation, _Is a man saved by his own merits or by the grace of God
alone_?[432] Olaf maintained that eternal life is ‘the _gift of God_’
(Rom. vi. 23), and that Christians are saved _by grace_ (Ephes. ii. 8).
Man obtains a reward solely _by the grace of God and because Christ has
merited it for him_. This fundamental doctrine was met with among all
nations at the epoch of the Reformation. Galle expected to triumph by
maintaining the ecclesiastical princedom of the bishop of Rome, which
had existed, he added, for twelve hundred years. ‘The office of a
bishop,’ answered Olaf, ‘is not a lordship but a labor. The papacy has
not existed for so long a time as you assign to it. Moreover, we have to
consider, not the antiquity of an office but its goodness. Satan the
tempter of man is very _ancient_, but it does not follow from this that
he is _good_.’ The discussion continued on other matters in controversy,
such as conversion, the Lord’s Supper, and particularly miraculous
apparitions which Galle asserted still took place. He instanced those
seen by St. Martin, St. Anthony, and Cyrillus, bishop of Jerusalem.
‘Every day new ones are witnessed,’[433] he added, ‘and so far from
despising them, we ought to feel great reverence for them.’ ‘The Church
of God,’ replied Olaf, ‘built up on the doctrine of prophets and
apostles, has no need of apparitions. The Word of God is sufficient to
impart the knowledge of salvation. But man who is a liar delights
himself in these fallacious novelties because he has no relish for the
Word of God.[434] Holy Scripture forbids us to seek after the truth at
the hands of the dead.’ In support of his proposition he quoted Deut.
xix. 9; Lev. xx. 6; Isa. viii. 19; and Luke xvi. 27.
The two combatants had displayed at first great moderation; but they
gradually got excited and, forgetting the respect due to an assembly so
august as that which was listening to them, they began to use, according
to the practice of the age, rather strong expressions. The king declared
the discussion to be ended, pronounced victory to remain with the
evangelical doctor, and gave command that the proceedings of the
disputation should be drawn up and published, in order that religious
men might be able to judge on which side the truth lay.[435]
[Sidenote: Irritation Of Parties.]
This colloquy of 1526, notwithstanding its great importance, was far
from re-establishing unity. The partisans of the Roman Church regretted
that they had allowed themselves to be drawn into it. Bishop Brask
accused the archbishop of weakness, and severely blamed him for having
authorized the disputation. ‘The Catholic faith,’ he wrote to him, ‘is
beyond objection altogether, nor is it permissible to subject it to
examination. You will never be able to justify yourself before the
pope.’ This fierce champion of the papacy was constantly repeating to
those about him that ‘it was to the bishops and the doctors of the
Church that Christ entrusted the interpretation of Holy Scripture;[436]
and that Olaf must be taken to Rome, not for the purpose of convincing
him and those like him, but to have them put to death by fire or by
sword.’[437]
These sayings provoked the friends of the Reformation. What! the laity
must receive blindly the teaching of the priests! Did not St. Paul write
to all the Christians of Thessalonica—_Prove all things_; and to those
of Corinth—_I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say_? But the
reformed did not always proceed in a prudent manner. As pastors were
sought for in all quarters, many young men left Upsala before they had
gained the knowledge and the discretion which were needed. They preached
justification by grace; but some of them did not sufficiently insist on
the point that faith which does not produce works is dead; and when they
spoke of the priests and the pope they made use of unguarded
expressions. Gustavus frequently rebuked them, and Olaf published a work
for their guidance. Occasionally without being expected he went to the
churches, and after sermon affectionately pointed out to these young
ministers the faults which had struck him,[438] and counselled them to
avoid provoking their opponents causelessly.
But nothing could soothe the ruffled temper of the enemies of Reform.
The archbishop, who had once more become a real Roman Catholic (_un vrai
Romain_), was continually stirring up his subordinates against the king.
Brask did the same, and other prelates went greater lengths. The bishop
and the provost of Westeraas, Sunnanwaeder, and Knut, instigated the
peasants of Dalecarlia to revolt; and the latter, with threats, demanded
of the king the banishment of the Lutheran faith from the kingdom.
Gustavus reminded them of the calamities which the Roman clergy had
brought on Sweden, adding that it was the duty of a king to shake off a
yoke so burdensome. But the Dalecarlians, who were easily excited, were
rude mountaineers who feared neither heat nor cold, were skilled in
handling arms, and were equally content with sword and plough, peace and
war, life and death.[439] In 1526 they refused to pay the taxes, and in
a short time they did more.
[Sidenote: A Pretender.]
At the beginning of 1527, there appeared in the remotest parishes of
their country a young man calling himself Nils Sture, who stated that he
was the eldest son of the deceased administrator, and that he had left
Stockholm in order to escape from a heretical prince, who could not
endure at his court the presence of the legitimate heir of the kingdom.
‘As soon as Gustavus perceived me,’ he added, ‘he cast a fierce glance
at me, drew his sword, and attempted to take away my life. Is this the
recompense due to the merits of my father, who lost his life to save
Sweden?’ Saying these words he burst into tears, fell on his knees, and
begged the good peasants who stood round him to say with him a
_paternoster_ to deliver the soul of the prince his father out of
purgatory. The young man was handsome in person, and could speak well,
so that the Dalecarlians as they listened to him mingled their tears
with his. To his pathetic appeals he added terrible accusations.
‘Gustavus,’ said he, ‘has not only laid aside the national dress, but he
intends also to compel the Swedes to dress in the new fashion.’ This the
Dalecarlians would have esteemed a disgrace. The pretended Nils Sture
had soon a large following, for the Romish system was greatly
reverenced, and the name of Sture was held in high honor among the
Dalecarlians. The archbishop of Drontheim declared in his favor, and the
partisans of Rome hailed the young man as a Maccabæus who was going to
raise up again the altars of the true God. The pretender surrounded
himself with a body guard, formed a court, elected a chancellor, and
coined money. This person, the hope of the sinking papacy, was in
reality a farm servant from Bjoerksta in Westmanland, an illegitimate
son of a female servant. He had served in several families of the
gentry, and had thus acquired a certain skilfulness. He was trained for
the part he had to play by Peder Grym, a man who was formerly in the
service of Sten Sture, and who had become the confidential attendant of
Bishop Sunnanwaeder.[440] In spite of his cleverness he was soon
detected. The Dalecarlians received one day a letter from the princess,
the widow of the administrator, in which she put them on their guard
against this impostor, and informed them that she had lost her eldest
son. The unlucky fellow made his escape into Norway, and was there
received as a prince by the archbishop of Drontheim.
Anxious to dispel the calumnies circulated against him by the bishops,
of which other impostors might make use, the king published a
declaration, in which he laid down the end which he had set before
himself. ‘We mean to have,’ he said, ‘the true religion, agreeable to
the Word of God. Now there is no other but that which Christ and the
apostles taught. On this point all are agreed. Controversy is maintained
only about certain practices invented by men, and particularly
respecting the immunity of prelates. We demand the abolition of useless
rites, and we strive, as all Christians ought to do, to lay hold on
eternal life. But the prelates who observe this, and who care only for
their own bellies, accuse us of introducing a new religion. We earnestly
exhort you to give no credit to this calumny.’[441]
Gustavus, aware that the archbishop was one of those who were
circulating the reports in question, summoned him to Stockholm. Magnus
went, in serious apprehension of what might happen. As soon, indeed, as
he perceived the stern look of Gustavus, he was confused, his
countenance changed, and he remained silent. The king told him some
plain truths, and reminded him of proceedings which filled him with
shame. ‘Your calling,’ continued the prince, ‘is to teach the Gospel,
and not to talk big and play the grandee.’ The archbishop promised to do
what the king wished. It appears that Gustavus ordered him to be
confined for some days in a convent at Stockholm, in order to ascertain
whether, as some asserted, Magnus had joined in the conspiracy of
Sunnanwaeder and Knut. But he soon set him at liberty; and the king,
intending to marry a Polish princess, entrusted him with a mission to
Poland. The archbishop set out; but instead of going to Poland, he
betook himself to Rome, and never returned to Sweden.
[Sidenote: Resolution Of Gustavus.]
Gustavus believed that the time was now come to complete his work. He
wished to deliver the kingdom out of the state of strife in which it was
plunged. Many members of the Diet and officers of the army urged him to
get himself crowned, but he did not care for a name and a crown without
the reality which they symbolize. The substance of kingly power was
really in the hands of the clergy. The bishops had made themselves
masters of the principal fortresses, had usurped a part of the rights of
the monarch, and were in possession of wealth surpassing that of the
State. Gustavus now opened his mind to his clever, eloquent, and bold
chancellor, Lawrence Anderson. The latter had discerned the numerous
evils brought upon the Church and the State by the temporal power and
possessions of the clergy. He reminded the prince of the statement that
in the primitive Church the faithful distributed their property to one
another according as each had need, and that the apostles declared by
the mouths of St. Peter and St. John that they had neither silver nor
gold. Anderson, holding the same faith as Luther, frequently conversed
with Gustavus about the principles advanced in Germany by that admirable
doctor, and urged that this wholesome doctrine should be substituted for
the horrible maxims of the priests.
Gustavus understood him, and formed the purpose of withdrawing
resolutely from the foreign domination of Rome, which had cost
Scandinavia so much generous blood. He loved the evangelical doctrine;
but we are obliged to confess that policy had a good deal to do with his
resolution. The priest had invaded the rights of the crown, and he
undertook to reconquer them. This conquest was juster and more
legitimate than that of the Alexanders and the Cæsars. For the
accomplishment of the great work of religious renovation he relied upon
Olaf and Lawrence Petri and Anderson. The Romish party immediately began
to spread abroad the most abusive reports respecting these three
persons. The chancellor, they said, intends to destroy the churches and
the convents, and to introduce a new faith; and the two Petri to whom he
entrusts the work are heretics and scoundrels.[442]
The king, seeing what a commotion the priests were exciting in the
kingdom, determined to call together the assemblies. He convoked the
States of the kingdom at Westeraas, for St. John’s Day, June 24, 1527.
The clergy on hearing of this measure were filled with fear, and Brask,
at an interview which he had with his friend Thure Joensson, marshal of
the kingdom, exclaimed, ‘How glad I am that I have but a little while to
live!’ The ecclesiastical members of the Diet at first hesitated to go
to Westeraas; but many of them, and among others Brask, determined to go
in the hope that by their presence they might to some extent prevent the
great evils which they foresaw. The king himself arrived, accompanied by
a numerous and imposing court. It was a long time since there had been
any Diet of so important a character. Besides the ecclesiastics, there
were one hundred and twenty-nine nobles; every town sent its burgomaster
and a councillor, and every district sent six peasants.
Gustavus had resolved in his own mind that this Diet should emancipate
Sweden from the yoke of the priests, which had weighed on the people for
centuries, and restore the laity to their own place. For effecting so
salutary a revolution a resolute heart and a strong will were needed.
Now, he possessed both. It was his intention to open the Diet with a
grand banquet on the 23d of June, and to this the members of the States
had been invited. They all vied with each other in praising the courtesy
of the king, who at the outset thus received them at his table. Gustavus
entered the banquet-hall, and went toward the place where his cover was
laid. Then the bishops came forward according to custom; for they used
to take the highest places after the king, and in his absence they even
took precedence of his representative. But now Gustavus, turning to his
ministers of state, his councillors, and the grandees of the kingdom,
invited them to sit near him, and next to them the bishops, afterwards
the nobles, then the canons and other ecclesiastics who usually preceded
the nobility, and last the burgesses and the peasants. This precedence
assigned to the laity caused a lively sensation in the whole assembly.
The bishops thus held back, overpowered with surprise, turned pale, and
revealed in the expression of their countenances the bitterness of their
souls.[443] Nevertheless, they were speechless; and through fear of
Gustavus they drank this cup. Many of them would fain have withdrawn,
but the imposing presence of the king detained them, and they silently
took their seats in those lower places which they looked upon as the
greatest disgrace they had ever suffered. The king, observing the
expression of their faces, addressed them. Hitherto their lips had
remained closed, but by the king’s words they were opened; they showed
that their usual place was on each side of him, and claimed to take it.
Gustavus explained the reasons which had induced him to give the highest
rank to his ministers. Up to this time the Church had lorded it over the
State; now the State was freed. Henceforth Sweden rendered unto Cæsar
the things which are Cæsar’s and unto God the things which are God’s.
Order had been deranged, but now every one was restored to his own
place.
Footnote 414:
‘Ein junger Mensch, der darüber frohlockte, war vom Pöbel
zerrissen.’—Schinmeier, _Lebensbeschreibungen_, p. 49.
Footnote 415:
‘Ejecerant organa musica, statuas et imagines,’ &c.—Gerdesius, _Ann._
iii. p. 289.
Footnote 416:
‘Quum id occasionem præberet sacrificulis magnam excitandi
tempestatem,’ &c.—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 290.
Footnote 417:
Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. p. 54.
Footnote 418:
‘_Thierischen Ausschweifungen._‘—Schinmeier, p. 56. ‘Scortis
multifariis.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 291.
Footnote 419:
_Een liten Underwisning om Ecktenskapet._—Stockholm, 1528.
Footnote 420:
‘Quippe quum Novi Testamenti Scripta omnium manibus
tererentur.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 291.
Footnote 421:
‘Inviti aggrediebantur.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 292.
Footnote 422:
‘Die Klerisey erschrak.’—Schinmeier, _Lebensbeschreibung_, p. 57.
Footnote 423:
‘Weit prächtiger und überflüssiger als der König selbst.’—Schinmeier,
_Lebensbeschreibung_, p. 58.
Footnote 424:
‘Gustav sprach, zu Pferde sitzend, auf einer der Upsala
Hügel.’—Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. p. 55.
Footnote 425:
‘Unsere Gnaden trinken Eurer Gnaden zu.’ ‘Deine Gnaden und Unsere
Gnaden haben nicht Raum unter einem Dache.’—Geijer, iii. p. 55.
Schinmeier, p. 60.
Footnote 426:
‘Ut tempestatem in se intentam si pote amolirentur.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._
iii. p. 292.
Footnote 427:
‘Cum theologi consuessent eos omnes qui non in omnibus secum
conspirarent statim hæreseos accusare.’—_Ibid._ p. 293.
Footnote 428:
‘Eo responso commotior factus archiepiscopus.’—_Ibid._
Footnote 429:
The Abbé Vertot, p. 61.
Footnote 430:
This disputation is handed down to us in the _Acta Colloquii
Upsaliensis habiti_ an. 1526. These Acts are to be found in the
_Monumenta_ or _Appendix_ of vol. iii. of the _Ann._ of Gerdesius, pp.
153-181.
Footnote 431:
‘In constitutionibus Patrum a S. Scriptura dissentientibus etiam nos
discedimus ab illis.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. Appendix, p. 155.
Footnote 432:
‘Utrum homo salvetur meritis suis an sola gratia Dei?‘—_Ibid._ p. 167.
Footnote 433:
‘Apparitiones indies novæ visuntur,’ &c.—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii.
Appendix, p. 173.
Footnote 434:
‘Gaudens fallacibus novitatibus, tædio verbi Dei.’—_Ibid._ p. 174.
Footnote 435:
‘Ut religiosi lectores possent cognoscere utra pars veritatem
detenderet.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 295. Raumer, ii. p. 125.
Footnote 436:
‘Non laicis aut plebi.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 299.
Footnote 437:
‘Romam mittere . . non convincendos, sed ferro et igne
comburendos.’—_Ibid._
Footnote 438:
Schinmeier, _Lebensbeschreibung_, pp. 59, 60.
Footnote 439:
‘Qui gladium et aratrum, bellum et pacem, mortem et vitam in æquo
ponunt.’—Joh. Magnus, _Præfatio ad Historiam Gothicam_, p. 11, in
Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 304.
Footnote 440:
Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. p. 58.
Footnote 441:
Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 303. Seckendorf, _Hist. Luther_, p. 835.
Footnote 442:
Schinmeier, _Lebensbeschreibungen_, pp. 11-13.
Footnote 443:
‘Sie entfärbten sich, zeigten ihre Bitterkeit im Gesichte,’
&c.—Schinmeier, _Lebensbeschreibungen_, p. 69. Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii.
p. 305. Geijer, ii. p. 60.